NPPF Webcast on 18 April 2009, $10,000 Up for Grabs

The 2008-09 Bickel & Brewer/NYU National Public Policy Forum (NPPF) is coming up next weekend, the only international contest that provides high school students with the opportunity to participate in written and oral debates on issues of public policy.

One hundred eighty-two teams registered for this year’s competition. Writing on either side of the contest resolution, public and private secondary school teams submitted essays on the public policy topic, “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase alternative energy incentives in the United States.”

From those essays, Qualifying Round judges selected 32 schools to write on the same topic in a single-elimination contest. From this process, four teams emerged: Bellaire High School—Bellaire, TX; Glenbrook North High School—Northbrook, IL, Plano Senior High School—Plano, TX and Deer Park High School—Deer Park, TX. These four schools recently competed in a final written debate and have earned an all-expense-paid trip to New York, to participate in the first round of oral debate.

The semifinal and final rounds will be webcast from the Edwin Lawrence Debate Theater at http://www.uvm.edu/debate_theater/
YOU MUST HAVE QUICKTIME 7.0 OR HIGHER INSTALLED.

WEBCAST SPONSORED BY: DEBATE CENTRAL, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND THE WORLD DEBATE INSTITUTE

Saturday, April 18:

9 am
Semifinals Debate #1 (90 minutes)
Bellaire High School (affirmative) vs. Glenbrook North High School (negative)

10:45 am
Semifinals Debate #2 (90 minutes)
Deer Park High School (affirmative) vs. Plano Senior High School (negative)

4 pm
Finals Debate

This contest is also suppoorted by the International Debate Education Association, the National Forensic League and the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues.

For more informtion, go to http://nppf.net

Debate Championship Comes to University of Vermont

Debate Championship Comes to University of Vermont from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Debate Championship Comes to UVM

Release Date: 04-08-2009

Author: Amanda Kenyon Waite
Email: Amanda.Waite@uvm.edu
Phone: 802/656-8381 Fax: (802) 656-3203

On April 3, 126 pairs of debaters from colleges and universities circling the globe converged on the UVM campus to compete in the 2009 U.S. Universities Debating Championship. The teams faced off for three days on a range of topics, from the merits of banning imported seal products to the effectiveness of stimulus plans.

The style of debate — the world debate format — matches four teams of two against each other to argue a topic they've only discovered just fifteen minutes before the round begins. During that fifteen minutes, debating partners are allowed only to speak with each other, and not access the internet, in order to pull together their fourteen combined minutes of argumentation.

UVM, this year's host of the fourth annual tournament, submitted several teams in the competition, and junior Sam Natale and senior Lucas Caress advanced to the semi-finals. Harvard University won the competition, debating in the final round in favor of outlawing handguns.

Watch the above video to learn more about debate, and see footage from the tournament.

Short Documentary Video about US Universities Tourney

Thanks to Eva Sollberger and Seven Days Vermont for this video.

Debate - BP Force Feed Anorexics

Final Round at Cape Cod Classic, March 2009.

This House would force feed anorexics.

First Government - Vermont Allison Hamlin & Tom Dionesotes (second)
First Opposition - Williams Anser Aftab & Farhan Gilani (fourth)
Second Government - Sarah Anders & Rachel Fabian (first)
Second Opposition - Isaac Loeb & Paul Gross (third)

Thanks to Nicole Colston for the video.

News Story about US Universities

Thanks to WCAX-TV for this story.

Debate - BP Undermine the ICC

Debate - BP Undermine the ICC from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Semifinal debate at US Universities Debating Championship 5 April 2009, held at the University of Vermont and sponsored by the International Debate Education Association and QatarDebate.

PANEL: Steve Johnson, Emily Ravenscroft, Ian Lising, Scott Rodriguez, Chris Richter, Steven West, Rhydian Morgan

Hart House FE and Harvard BB advance
3. Hart House FE OO
2. Harvard BB OG
Receiving SEMI-FINALIST AWARD:
7. Vermont NC CG
14. (6) Seattle KS CO

Alfred Snider
Lawrence Debate Union
debate.uvm.edu

Debate - BP Replace Stimulus with Balanced Budgets

Debate - BP Stimulus or Balanced Budget? from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Quarterfinals at US Universities, 5 April 2009, held at the University of Vermont and sponsored by the International Debate Education Association and QatarDebate.

RTT (Theater):
Alex Just, Scott Rodriguez, Loke Wing Fatt, Josh Martin, Steve West

1. Middle Temple WC OO ADVANCES
8. Cambridge NK OG
17. (16) Alaska HH CG ADVANCES
25.(9) Marianapolis SW CO

Alfred Snider
University of Vermont
debate.uvm.edu